Melisa Acquisition agreed to pay US$450 million for Telefónica’s Mexican business. Mexico’s National Antimonopoly Commission (CNA) has cleared the sale, which transfers ownership of a telecom operation that reported a €14 million pre-tax profit in 2025. The buyers have six months to close under the resolution reported on 2 October 2026.
The Asset and Its Buyers
A consortium led by US firm OXIO and Newfoundland Capital Management is buying the business. The consortium agreed in April to buy Telefónica’s Mexican operation. The CNA board approved the merger on 24 September with four votes in favour; the parties formally notified the deal on 28 May.
The sale covers all shares in Pegaso PCS and Celular de Telefonía, the two companies that make up Telefónica México. Through Pegaso, the buyer will also acquire a stake in GTAC, a fibre-optic network. The stake’s size remains redacted.
Movistar no longer runs a national access network. It returned its mobile spectrum and, since 2019, has operated as a virtual operator on AT&T’s infrastructure. It still has its network core, customer systems and service centres.
Expansión counted 20.1 million prepaid and postpaid customers. Its 2 October report rounded that figure to 21 million in the headline. The business’s pre-tax result improved from a €7 million loss, about US$7.9 million, to a €14 million profit in 2025, El Economista reported. Yet the same report said the unit lost customers, revenue and market share that year.
Regulatory Clearance, Further Approvals Pending
The CNA found “few probabilities” that the deal would harm competition. Its approval remains valid for six months from the business day after notice takes effect. Expansión put the closing deadline in March 2027. The parties can seek one extension for a similar period if they justify it; El Economista calculated that an extension would push the final deadline to the last week of September 2027.
The CNA said its resolution didn't prejudge permits from other authorities. When it announced the deal, Telefónica identified the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (CRT) as another regulator whose approval it needed. Neither company had publicly said whether the CRT had granted that approval. They also hadn't announced the final price or exact closing date.
After closing, both companies have 30 business days to give the CNA proof of the transaction and file data showing its final value in Mexico. Telefónica said in April that the price was subject to adjustment. The resolution warns that missing the filing could lead to daily fines.
Retreat and Restructuring
The sale forms part of Telefónica’s retreat from Spanish-speaking Latin America. The group wants to focus on Spain, Brazil, Germany and the United Kingdom and has already sold units elsewhere, including its Chile business. In Mexico, América Móvil dominates the market, leading in users, revenue and infrastructure.
OXIO plans to move the operation to a cloud platform and add satellite links and artificial intelligence services. In September, it said it would store customer data in Amazon Web Services data centres in Querétaro.
The transaction report gives no employee count, wage information, job terms or labor agreement, and names no union, worker organization or strike. It sets out the asset sale, regulatory conditions and plans for the network’s technology. The price remains subject to adjustment, and another regulatory approval had not been publicly confirmed.